News from 7/2011

THEESatisfaction, the self-produced “lo-fi rebel hiphop” duo comprised of Seattle’s Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White, (thankfully) accepted Sub Pop’s proposal to join our eclectic family! To celebrate this union, they will be headlining the Vera Project stage at Capitol Hill Block Party today July 22nd. The group, who has released five EPs to date as well as contributed to label-mates Shabazz Palaces latest release Black Up, are expected to release their debut full-length album early next year, For now, the kind women of THEESatisfaction have decided to give you the track Do You Have the Time for free!

What people are saying about THEESatisfcation:
“What jerk won’t appreciate “Snow Motion”? Local girlfriend duo THEESatisfaction’s pure-heartedness shines on its second recorded release like a trusty headlamp, as Cat (singer) and Stasia (um…floeticizer?) spelunk through mid-fi hiphop pastiche, art-school ambitions, and predominant lyrical themes of death, blackness, outer space and sexuality." (The Seattle Times Slow Motion Review)

Thee Satisfaction are sort of like Erykah Badu split into two ladies (one for the rapping side, one for the singing side) and sort of like teen reggae team Althea & Donna. They rapped about seducing your girl right off your arm (“Bisexual”), kicked out a summery party starter built on a sample of Anita Baker’s “Real Love,” and cooed about what “bad bitches” they are. I’m hard-pressed to think of any badder. (Chicago Reader SXSW review)
“With more honest/catchy lyrics, infectious beats, and venue wrecking sets, THEESatisfaction’s next project could be called “The Taming of the Shrew: (Industry this means you)”." (URB live review)

Write about what you know. That’s what they say. But that’s a lot easier said than done when what you know is very, very difficult to bear. That was the challenge Dum Dum Girls’ leader Dee Dee faced when writing the songs for the band’s moving second album Only in Dreams. Listen to the slowdive ballad “Coming Down,” which Dee Dee wrote not long after her mom passed away. “That song came out of being in and out of awareness of the depth of the situation,” she says. “Sometimes when I write, I don’t really analyze what I’m saying but the more I hear that song, the deeper it feels. I don’t know if I’m addressing life or God or what, but it’s our big, epic song on every scale.”